Wilfred J. "Jasper" Holmes (April 4, 1900 – January 7, 1986) was a US Naval officer, one of the Station HYPO staff, who had the idea of faking a water supply failure on

Midway Island Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...

in 1942. He suggested using an unencrypted emergency warning, in the hope of provoking a Japanese response, thus establishing whether Midway was a target.

Early years

Born in Stockport, New York, Holmes was the son of Johan Erik Jonasson Holmes, a Finnish immigrant who worked as a fireman in a paper mill, and Esther F. Holmes. Wilfred Holmes graduated from the

US Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is ...

, Annapolis, 1922, and had a master's degree in engineering from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He served as a line officer in the Navy, in submarines. He wrote submarine adventure stories for the '' Saturday Evening Post'' and technical articles under the pen name Alec Hudson.University of Hawaii biography of Wilfred Holmes
/ref> One of the former, "Rendezvous", imagined an air raid in which flying boats were refueled by submarines at a Pacific atoll, allowing them to reach targets which would normally be well outside their range. This scenario would later play out in real life in the form of

Operation K was a Japanese naval operation in World War II, intended as reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor and disruption of repair and salvage operations following the surprise attack on 7 December 1941. It culminated on 4 March 1942, with an unsucces ...

, a March 1942 attack by Japanese H8Ks on Pearl Harbor. Unlike the massive carrier-based surprise attack three months earlier, this only involved two aircraft and failed due to bad weather. Naval Intelligence chief Edwin T. Layton later concluded that the Japanese had made use of the idea from "Rendezvous" when planning the operation. Holmes retired from the Navy in 1936 because of arthritis of the spine, and joined the faculty of the University of Hawaii.

Intelligence officer

In 1941, Lieutenant Holmes was recalled to duty and assigned to Station HYPO, which was breaking Japanese codes, especially their naval cipher

JN-25 The vulnerability of Japanese naval codes and ciphers was crucial to the conduct of World War II, and had an important influence on foreign relations between Japan and the west in the years leading up to the war as well. Every Japanese code was e ...

. He was promoted to

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

on February 25, 1942. By May 1942, US Naval Intelligence knew that the Japanese were planning an attack at a spot they called AF, but did not know what AF signified. Navy cryptanalyst

Joseph Rochefort Joseph John Rochefort (May 12, 1900 – July 20, 1976) was an American naval officer and cryptanalyst. He was a major figure in the United States Navy's cryptographic and intelligence operations from 1925 to 1946, particularly in the Battle of M ...

thought AF was Midway Island. Holmes had the idea of faking a water supply failure on Midway. He suggested using an unencrypted emergency warning, in the hope of provoking a Japanese response, thus establishing whether AF was Midway. Holmes' ruse worked and led to the Japanese defeat at the

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under ...

. Holmes was awarded the

Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in action * Distinguishe ...

. Continuing to work at Station HYPO, Holmes was promoted to Commander on May 8, 1943, and then to Captain on December 19, 1944.

Later years

Holmes became chairman of the department of engineering and mathematics at the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

after the war, then Dean of Engineering, Dean of Administration, and Vice President, retiring from the university in 1965. Holmes Hall is named in his honor. He was author of books on submarine warfare and naval intelligence.

Death

Holmes died January 7, 1986, and is buried in the

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (informally known as Punchbowl Cemetery) is a national cemetery located at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii. It serves as a memorial to honor those men and women who served in the United St ...

, Honolulu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Wilfred 1900 births 1986 deaths United States Navy officers Intelligence analysts United States Navy personnel of World War II Battle of Midway United States Naval Academy alumni University of Hawaiʻi faculty Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal Burials in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific